


Just One Bite

by acalmingcupoftea



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-06-20
Packaged: 2018-04-05 06:13:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4169007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acalmingcupoftea/pseuds/acalmingcupoftea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU for S1E21 "An Apple Red as Blood"</p>
<p>What if Emma had eaten that apple turnover?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just One Bite

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crazykookie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazykookie/gifts).



> Thanks to specialrhino for the beta!
> 
> Happy birthday my dear crazykookie~

Emma should have known better. 

Her gut was telling her to walk out of Regina’s pristine kitchen; to walk out the door and return to her cozy shared apartment with Mary Margaret. She could find Henry, explain that she cared about him and wanted to be a part of his life, but she just couldn’t do it here. Not with Regina around...with her smile and her well-tailored clothes and her...

Then she could get in her beat up Bug and floor it out of town, never looking back. Running away not only from Henry but also from the emotions she couldn’t acknowledge.

But she ignored all of those feelings. She ignored the way her fingers tensed as she picked up the flaky pastry, apple filling oozing from one end. She ignored the gleam that appeared in Regina’s eye as she took a bite. She ignored how off the apple tasted, like something was rotten.

As her body started to slump over the counter top, she thought she saw something change in Regina’s expression. Her vision was hazy so she couldn’t say for certain, but it almost looked like regret.

_The kid was right,_ Emma thought, as the world went black around her.

***

Everything had gone according to plan up until Emma took the bite of the turnover. In that moment, something had come undone within Regina. The one ruby red piece of her heart, the one place that had never succumbed to the darkness, broke.

“What have I done?” Regina said to herself in an anguished whisper. She briefly thought of Henry, how betrayed he would feel by her actions. He would say that she had proven him right - she was nothing more than the heartless Evil Queen. But those thoughts were quickly drowned out as her own emotions screamed at her for hurting Emma.

Regina hurried over to Emma’s lifeless body and felt for a pulse. Relived that she could feel, though faintly, Emma’s heart beating, Regina relaxed a little. She wasn’t dead. Regina hadn’t killed her.

Regina hadn’t been sure what would happen when she used the poisoned apple in Storybrooke. Would it have the same effect as back home? Would it simply kill someone in this world without magic? When planning, Regina hadn’t truly cared whether Emma lived or died. Asleep forever or dead - it made no difference to her. But now, as she stared at the blonde slumped over her counter, she was grateful it was the former.

Regina backed away from Emma, as if distance would absolve her of her actions. When she reached the kitchen wall, she started to slide down it until she was sitting on the ground, tears pricking at her eyes.

When had this happened? At what point had she come to...love the only daughter of her mortal enemy? The birth mother of her son? Why had it taken such a catastrophic event for her to realize what she felt?

Well, that part wasn’t hard to figure out. Emma represented an end to her dream. An end to the victory she had worked so hard and sacrificed so much for. At first it had been easy to hate the blonde and what she represented. 

But then she hadn’t gone away. She had persisted and persisted. She had spent time with Henry and made him happy in a way Regina hadn’t been able to for years. Emma was the only one in town who stood up to Regina and, if Regina was being honest with herself, she liked the challenge. She liked always trying to stay one step ahead of the intrepid bail woman. 

And then somewhere along the way, Emma had started to be less...annoying. Regina found herself looking forward to seeing her when she dropped Henry off or when Emma barged into her office, exclaiming about this or that. As much as she hated Emma being sheriff, it did give her an excuse to see her whenever she wanted.

It had been so very long since she had been in love that Regina hadn’t realized it until it was too late.

Regina tilted her head back and banged it lightly against the wall. What was she going to do? It’s not like she was back home, where there was so much magic the air crackled with it, where there were procedures for breaking curses.

Wait, that’s it! If the poisoned apple worked here like it did back home, maybe the cure would, too. All she needed was true love’s kiss and then Emma would be saved.

Regina paused. Who was Emma’s true love? She had only been attached to Graham, who wouldn’t be much help now. Whom did Emma spend the most time with? Whom did she love above all else?

When she realized who that person might be, her heart stopped. Could...Emma care for Regina? Love her, even? Emma didn’t spend time with anyone as much as she did Regina. Sure, they bickered more often than not and didn’t always see eye to eye, but sometimes, it felt like Emma was seeking her out just to see _her_. Not to fight about Henry, not to argue with how she ran the town, but to see her, to be near her.

Determined, Regina pulled herself together. She wiped her eyes and took a few deep breaths before hoisting herself off the kitchen floor and making her way to Emma’s unmoving body. 

Slowly, Regina reached out her hand and slipped it into Emma’s half open one. Her skin was soft and cool in Regina’s hand. She took her other hand and touched Emma’s back lightly, holding her breath as if this act would wake her from her slumber. Regina ran her hand up the red leather jacket and slipped her fingers through Emma’s golden locks. 

Disentangling her hand from Emma’s, Regina gently pushed her off the counter and back into the chair, her other hand supporting Emma’s head to prevent it from falling too far backward. Emma looked peaceful, completely unlike the combative look Regina was used to. At the very least, she hoped she would be able to see that glare again. At best, this peaceful look again though under much different circumstances.

Despite the current predicament, Regina couldn’t help admiring Emma’s beauty. As she scanned her face, her eyes landed on her lips and her heart fluttered in her chest. Suddenly nervous, Regina tried to calm herself and brush away her doubts - _this is never going to work, how could she love someone like you?_ \- before cupping Emma’s face with her hand.

Regina lowered her head and gently, pressed her lips against Emma’s, hoping, for more than one reason, that this would work.


End file.
